Disk drives comprise a disk and a head connected to a distal end of an actuator arm which is rotated about a pivot by a voice coil motor (VCM) to position the head radially over the disk. The disk comprises a plurality of radially spaced, concentric tracks for recording user data sectors and servo sectors. The servo sectors comprise head positioning information (e.g., a track address) which is read by the head and processed by a servo control system to control the velocity of the actuator arm as it seeks from track to track.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art disk format 4 comprising a number of data tracks 6 defined by concentric servo sectors 20-2N recorded around the circumference of each data track. Each servo sector 2i comprises a preamble 8 for storing a periodic pattern, which allows proper gain adjustment and timing synchronization of the read signal, and a sync mark 10 for storing a special pattern used to synchronize to a servo data field 12. The servo data field 12 stores coarse head positioning information, such as a servo track address, used to position the head over a target data track during a seek operation. Each servo sector 2i further comprises groups of servo bursts 14 (e.g., A, B, C and D bursts), which comprise a number of consecutive transitions recorded at precise intervals and offsets with respect to a data track centerline. The groups of servo bursts 14 provide fine head position information used for centerline tracking while accessing a data track during write/read operations.
In the past, external servo writers have been used to write the concentric servo sectors 20-2N to the disk surface during manufacturing. External servo writers employ extremely accurate head positioning mechanics, such as a laser interferometer or optical encoder, to ensure the concentric servo sectors 20-2N are written at the proper radial location from the outer diameter of the disk to the inner diameter of the disk. However, external servo writers are expensive and require a clean room environment so that a head positioning pin can be inserted into the head disk assembly (HDA) without contaminating the disk. Thus, external servo writers have become an expensive bottleneck in the disk drive manufacturing process. In addition, in spite of their relatively high precision, external servo writers are not accurate enough to write the increasingly higher precision patterns required for newer high capacity disk drives.
The prior art has suggested various “self-servo” writing methods wherein the internal electronics of the disk drive are used to write the concentric servo sectors independent of an external servo writer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,679 teaches a disk drive which performs a self-servo writing operation by writing a plurality of spiral tracks (seed tracks) to the disk which are then processed to write the concentric servo sectors. Each spiral track is written to the disk as a high frequency signal (with missing bits), wherein the position error signal (PES) for tracking is generated relative to time shifts in the detected location of the spiral tracks. The read signal is rectified and low pass filtered to generate a triangular envelope signal representing a spiral track crossing, wherein the location of the spiral track is detected by detecting a peak in the triangular envelope signal relative to a clock synchronized to the rotation of the disk.